How to tell when a hamster's given birth?

Cymmie · 03-15-2016, 09:32 AM

I have a hamster, syrian, who was rather round when I bought her and continued to grow until the last few days when she slimmed down. I suspected her being pregnant, and placed a nesting box in there (after doing all the necessary steps to secure a safe birth). However the kind of box I had on hand made it so I can't see if she actually gave birth or not, or something else happened. Is there anyway to tell? She's not leaving the nest a whole lot, only to eat and drink. But she's also leaving it more often to do so. Would she be visibly lactating or something?

CMB · 03-15-2016, 10:29 AM

How long have you had her? A breeder here will know how long they are pregnant for.

The signs suggest she may have had pups. Spending a lot of time in the nest, coming out to eat and drink more. Does she explore her cage and run on her wheel? If she isn't that can also mean she had had pups. When she comes out see if she looks abut thinner. Disturb her as little as possible, just feed, water and clean the toilet area when needed.

Nancy's Hamsters · 03-15-2016, 10:30 AM

Just wait and see. Any disturbance of the box could cause her to abandon the nest or worse

In a week or less you may hear squeaks of pups bickering for the milk bar or complaining of no space to be comfortable in the nest. If it is a content litter you will know when they start toddling out to use the potty corner.

Just keep tending Mom as if she has pups and don't handle her or change anything within the cage until you can tell for sure there are or aren't pups inside the box. BTW nursing Moms will eat more, and drink lots more as they are both needed to produce a large supply of milk for hungry, and demanding pups.

GhostsInSnow · 03-15-2016, 11:03 AM

I've started breeding Chinese how I knew she'd given birth was she was barrel shaped and then came out of her nest Sunday morning for food and was tiny again. She's also more skittish, running back to the nest every couple of minutes when having food/water or going half way back to the nest, having a listen and then going back to eating/drinking. I'm not seeing her out and about other than for food and water (Not that I'm checking, I've just noticed everything whilst tending to my other hams) and I've heard some little pup squeaks each time she's gone back to the nest

Cymmie · 03-15-2016, 11:35 AM

She is a lot thinner, has thinned down the last two days, but she's eating and drinking like a champ, and not gaining weight which is surprising considering I took out her wheel as a precaution. I only had her for about 12 days before I suspected she gave birth. But she had been in the store for about 4 or 5 days before I got her. She's doing well at least, has a huge craving for protein sources and so I am preparing lots of eggs for her, boiled chicken, and baby foods and such. She's spoiled. Very protective of her nest but I'm not bothering it much other than to move the box on occasion to move her stash of possibly spoiled foods. I don't disturb the actual nest and she is very tolerant considering I've only had her a while. She has come to view me as the amazing source of food. She already begs. I love her to bits weather she has given birth or not <3 if she has her babies will be adorable XD

pinkneon · 03-15-2016, 03:35 PM

She came from a petshop?! You need to contact them to let them know they need to separate the males and females! Females can get pregnant quite young too ... Good luck though

Cymmie · 03-15-2016, 04:20 PM

Supposedly they only had males, I didn't think to check gender.

pinkneon · 03-15-2016, 04:35 PM

Grrrrrrrrrrr it makes me SO mad when petshops sell animals and know nothing about them!!

I don't know a lot about pregnancy in hamsters - sorry - so I can only advised you to follow what everyone else has said. In the meantime, might still be worth giving the shop a quick call to explain that you think the hamster may have been pregnant and may now have babies, though you won't know for a while. They MUST check the others and separate them!
You might not be able to do this where you live, but a friend of mine was in a situation like this once. The petshop had accidentally put a female in with the males after a cage clean, as ffor some reason they'd cleaned both the cages together! Thankfully it was the only female that went in with the males and my friend had bred hamsters at one point so she kind of knew what to expect. But, what she did do was ask the shop to help pay towards the cost of keeping the mother and babies - so for extra food, bedding, an extra cage etc. In this case because it was entirely their fault not only did they provide the things she needed for a much reduced price, they also gave her a voucher for her to take them all for a vet check up before they went to their new homes! I have to say the looks on the vet's face when she walked in with all the babies was priceless! They may not do much, but they might be able to help a bit maybe. Always worth asking

As my brother always says "don't ask, you don't get"!

Cymmie · 03-16-2016, 09:55 PM

So Badger was in her nesting box and sitting in such a way that I could see her nursing one of her pups. I only saw one though and I'm not sure if she has or would have any more. She's young and absolutely tiny, I hope she does well with the rest of the nursing. I just refilled her food bowl because I think she's looking for specific items to eat, I was correct, she started picking out what I think are the barley seeds and storing them. So adorable <3

I talked to the store, they didn't offer any special treatment. But hopefully they'll actually check out the genders now.

Piebald · 03-16-2016, 11:55 PM

Congratulations on your bonus hams!

Sounds like you are taking good care of them. Hopefully all will be well. What color is Mom?